EU's Schulz welcomes Nobel prize but warns peace 'under threat'

(VIENNA) - European Parliament president Martin Schulz hailed the EU's Nobel Peace Prize Friday as recognition of the bloc's integration efforts but warned that peace in the union was "under threat."

The Nobel Prize "is an encouragement for those who believe in European integration, who believe intensifying cooperation is the right way," Schulz told a hastily called press conference during a visit to Vienna after the announcement in Oslo.

As the 27-nation bloc battles the sovereign debt crisis in the 17-member eurozone, Schulz, a German, warned however that internal peace was "under threat."

"We cannot live in a union where in one country people are really rich... and in others, people, even academics, have to rummage around rubbish bins to find something to eat.

"That's unworthy of a union that won the Nobel Peace Prize, that's why I think we need to go on and give Europe the power to achieve that additional bit of justice that we urgently need at the moment," he said.

"Those who want to strengthen the European Union... they received emphatic backing from the Nobel Prize committee today with this result," he added, when asked what the prize worth 8.0 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million, 930,940 euros) prize meant.

Over the past few years, government leaders in the EU have insisted on the importance of national interests, leading to a "loss of trust" in EU institutions and Brussels' decision-making ability, Schulz noted.

"It's not a collection of 27 countries that received the Nobel Prize today but the union these countries created," he said.

"The European Union was very much strengthened today."

"It's an emotional day," he also said, admitting he was "surprised" by the Nobel Prize win.

Schulz was in Vienna for a two-day visit during which he met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann.